


Something Wicked This Way Comes

by candlewriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-28 00:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13892739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candlewriter/pseuds/candlewriter
Summary: Adrianna Barkridge doesn’t get along well with people. In her defence, she lived a secluded life had never practiced communicating with anyone who wasn’t her father or a house elf that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to sit through her hour long rantings about whatever book she had managed to get her hands on. She was bitter and she was brash, but no one could deny that she was bloody brilliant. Draco/OC





	1. Chapter 1

Barkridge Family History 

The Barkridges were considered to be a wizarding family derived of only the purest blood. They were envied for their power and wealth, two factors that would inevitably be the family’s downfall. Power and wealth made them targets to many attacks, however up until recently they were never affected by them.

The first known Barkridge was Elias Barkridge, a wizard who lived in Sweden in the 11th Century. It was said that he held great power, although where this power came from is not known to us. Many theory that he practiced in dark magic and struck a deal with a greater being in exchange for his power.

Another famous Barkridge was Maya Barkridge, who lived during the 14th Century. Much like her ancestor Elias, Maya resided in Sweden for the majority of her life but later made her way to the United Kingdom with her husband and two sons in order to pursue her dream of opening a potions shop and patenting some of her own potions, many of which we still use today. Some of her more known potions include the Hiccoughing Potion and the Confusing Concoction.

However, the most famous Barkridge was Violet Barkridge. In the late 17th Century Violet used the Imperius curse on an estimated 336 witches in order to sleep with them. Unbeknownst to her husband it is rumoured that she once housed 23 witches at once in the cellar of the family basement. It wasn’t until one of her children mentioned to a family friend that his mother had a lot of friends staying round that her deeds were picked up on. Despite being sentenced to a life in Azkaban and having cursed hundreds of witches, Violet was the poster girl for gay rights in the wizarding community. Witches and Wizards everywhere protested that she wouldn’t have been drawn to such manners had she been able to openly come out as a lesbian without fear of what would happen to her. As of the early 18th Century a law was passed allowing gay witches and wizards to marry and express their love as any straight couple would, this law is often referred to as “Violet’s Law”.

In the 19th Century a rumour spread that if you killed a Barkridge you would gain their powers, causing the remaining family to resign themselves to their family manor. This rumour was put to the test during a mass slaughter of the family by death eaters in 1971, leaving only one young boy by the name of Thomas, who had hidden under the floorboards of the family manor as he watched the Dark Lord spill the blood of his relatives in hopes that it would further increase his power.  
After the bloodshed, the boy locked himself away from the world out of fear. Eventually he understood that if he continued to shut himself away his bloodline would die out at him, and the power that his family had worked so hard to preserve would wither away. He married Cathryn Bennett, a young pureblooded witch from America and together they settled down in the British countryside. Cathryn unfortunately passed away in 1982 due to a prolonged unknown illness. There are rumours that the couple have a daughter by the name of Adrianna, but no one has seen her so this cannot be confirmed.  
Adrianna huffed and closed the book, sliding it back onto the shelf it came from. She peered around the family library in hopes something new for her to read would suddenly emerge, or she’d find a secret passageway that would lead to some strange mystery she could solve. But alas, no new books or strange buttons appeared and she had to come to terms with the fact that she had read every book they owned at least three times. She had begun to feel like Belle from her late mother’s favourite muggle (or no-maj as she called them) book. However somehow Adrianna doubted that one of the house elves would suddenly transform into a Prince or a Princess and whisk her away. She let her eyes flick over the books once more and fell onto a very familiar one, ‘Hogwarts: A History’ by Bathilda Bagshot, the pages were worn and some torn, but to her that just showed that it was well read. Adrianna had probably read through this particular copy 27 times, absorbing every piece of information she possibly could from it. She plucked it from the shelf and held it close as she made her way from the library to her father’s office. The house was big and secluded, perhaps not as much as she was told the old Barkridge Manor had once been, but it apparently came quite close. For some a house this big would have been a luxury, for Adrianna it felt more like an abandoned prison. There were 12 bedrooms yet her father and herself were the only ones living there and they had never had a guest so most bedrooms were left untouched, only to be cleaned regularly for dust by the house elves.  
She didn’t bother knocking on the door when she reached the office, just waltzed into the room, book in hand.  
“No.” Thomas, her father, had barely had time to process that his daughter was in the room before spotting the book. “For the last time, you’re not going.”  
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask you.” Adrianna spat out, dramatically throwing herself onto the chair opposite her father’s desk. “How can you just say no?”  
“You were going to ask me if you could go to Hogwarts this year, as you do every year.” He sighed, his head in his hands as though the very idea of his daughter wanting to leave the house was exhausting to him. “It’s too dangerous Anna.” His voice softened towards the end, using his usual nickname for her.  
“Life is dangerous, and I have to live it at some point.” She argued, seemingly not swayed by her father’s softer tone and certainly not using one of her own. “I’ve read every book here, I’ve learnt all I can from them! I don’t even have my own wand!”  
“Then you’re probably leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else in your year. If you were to start now you would be joining people in their 4th year, you’ll have no friends and you won’t know anyone. You’ll be an outcast.” Thomas tried to explain to his daughter who just threw him a scowl.  
“Right, because it’s not like I’m already an outcast, that I already don’t have friends, that I don’t know anyone.” She spat out with spite, her father’s serene look faltered slightly as he realised that she was right. “I don’t care if I’m leaps and bounds ahead of everyone mentally, when it comes to physical ability I have had no training, and what about the subjects we don’t have books on? There’s a limit to wandless magic!”  
“We’ll get you new books.” He tried to rationalise in response, but Adrianna didn’t listen to him, she just carried on spitting out her accusations and insults.  
“If you’re so paranoid that I’ll go out and get hurt, then let me learn how to defend myself! You can’t protect me forever, when you’re gone I’ll be defenseless with no friends and no family and no way to protect myself from anything.” She was well aware of her steadily raising voice and her clenched fists but she didn’t care enough to stop herself from getting too worked up. “You’re a selfish bastard Thomas. Your paranoia will end up being my main cause of death.” With that, she stormed off to her bedroom, the door slamming itself shut in her wake. She grabbed a pillow off of her bed and used it to muffle the sounds of her frustrated screams, she had learnt long ago that she couldn’t just bottle up the anger. Once her screaming fit was over she launched the pillow at her wall and it exploded on impact, raining feathers all around her otherwise spotless room. Instinctively, one of the family house elves, Topsy, appeared to clean up the mess and thus fell witness to Adrianna’s endless ranting about how utterly unfair it was that she had to live such a secluded life. After an hour or so Topsy was relieved to see that the young mistress had ranted herself off into a dreamless sleep.

 

Adrianna groaned as light flooded into her bedroom, tugging her sheets over her head to try and hide from it.  
“It’s time to get up and get dressed!” Thomas cheered, pulling the bed covers away from his daughter who was most certainly not a morning person, although she wasn’t particularly a day or night person either. “Make sure you wear sensible walking shoes.” This caught her attention.  
“Wait what? Walking? Where? Why?” She shot out of bed and ran to her dressed where clothes were already lying out ready for her. She snatched them into her arms and sped into the en suite bathroom to change.  
“We’re going to Diagon Alley. Flourish and Blotts have a great book collection.” He called out after her, causing her to quite literally squeal in excitement.  
Adrianna had never been anywhere but her garden, even in escape attempts that was the furthest she’d ever made it before being caught and dragged back. Needless to say, she was more than excited about the idea of going out and seeing other witches and wizards. She had read up on Diagon Alley and the shops there, she hoped that Flourish and Blotts wouldn’t be their only stop for the day.

Within 5 minutes the pair were stood in Diagon Alley, Thomas looking nervous and Adrianna looking utterly mesmerized. She watched in complete awe as witches and wizards greeted one another on the streets with a smile, gossiping about their summers and placing bets on the Quidditch World Cup. Quidditch and flying on a broom in general plucked at Adrianna’s curiosity, she knew the theory but had neither seen nor practiced it herself. She was certain if given the chance she would be able to put what she knows into action and effortlessly fly on a broom, but she doubted her father would ever give her the chance.  
“Right then, Flourish and Blotts first!” Thomas held out his arm as his daughter clung onto it instinctively, admittedly she was quite intimidated by the sheer amount of people so she was grateful for it. “You know I was a Ravenclaw when I was in Hogwarts. Your mother of course went to Ilvermorny so she was never sorted into a Hogwarts house but I have no doubt she would have been in Hufflepuff, she had such a kind soul.” He mused, leading his daughter down the street to the shopfront. He pulled out a handwritten list from his pocket and studied it. “Now what does it say you need? Magical Drafts and Potions; The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4; The Dark Forces, A Guide to Self-Protection..” Adrianna didn’t hear the last few as he listed them off, she was too busy trying to come to terms with what he was implying.  
“Wait dad.. You’re not telling me I’m..” She trailed off and looked up at him hopefully, her eyes almost watering at the idea. Her father simply nodded with a stiff smile almost as though he was already regretting it, which he probably was. She flung her arms around him, now fully sobbing.  
“Hey hey! I thought you were supposed to be happy that I’m letting you go to Hogwarts! What’s with the tears?” He leant down to look his daughter in the eye and he gasped at the sight of her. He hadn’t seen a grin on her face that wide since before her mother passed and his own eyes began to tear up.  
“Thank you.” She whispered sincerely. “Thank you.” The moment was ruined by the clearing of a throat from behind the pair. They pulled apart and looked over to the source of the sound and sure enough there stood a man with long, platinum blonde hair, his head held high.  
“Thomas Barkridge, I was under the impression that you no longer left the house.” The man sounded and looked as though he were sneering, but at the same time attempting to look like he couldn’t care less. “And I see the rumours must be true, yes? This is your daughter?” From behind him appeared a boy around Adrianna’s age with hair equally as platinum blonde, undoubtedly his son. His eyes studied her as though assessing whether or not she was worthy of his time.  
“No, I’m an illusion.” She rolled her eyes, if this is how consending the rest of the world is perhaps she would be better off sticking to books. Her father squeezed her shoulder as if to tell her to not be so vindictive against these people. Unfortunately, if Adrianna was told not to do something she would go out of her way to do it. “Completely fabricated, as far as anyone else is concerned you’re talking to air. Perhaps you should-”  
“Excuse Adrianna, the excitement of this trip must have gotten to her head.” Thomas cut his daughter off before she could say anything too damaging. He gave her a stern look which thankfully she understood and kept her mouth shut. “Lucius Malfoy, I haven’t seen you since our 5th year at Hogwarts-” Adrianna paid not attention to the adults conversing and instead looked back at the younger Malfoy who was apparently now introducing himself to her.  
“Draco Malfoy. I assume you’ve heard of me.” He radiated self importance as he stuck his hand out for her to shake. Having never met anyone but a couple of doctors and maybe one of her father’s business partners unintentionally, Adrianna just stared at the hand with a raised eyebrow.  
“I believe the name Malfoy was mentioned in a book that I’ve read but the information wasn’t important enough for me to retain, however I don’t you in particular were mentioned.” Draco looked practically appalled at the girl who simply smiled in return. “I’ve been noted in a few books however my existence is usually just speculation. Nevertheless, I am still noted.” With that, Thomas and Lucius had finished their conversation, Lucius now with his hand on Draco’s shoulder dragging him away as the boy stared at Adrianna in confusion.  
“Stay away from them.” Her father whispered, turning her around and leading her into the bookshop. “Bad people.” She barely had time to register the words as she took in and relished the sight of hundreds of unread books. Pulling away from her father, she skittered around the shelves and grabbed one of each book she had not yet read until her arms were so full she couldn’t carry anymore. Rolling his eyes and smiling, Thomas picked out all of the books that had been listed that she required for Hogwarts. As they made their way to the counter to pay for the books the man working there seemed to be in shock at the large pile that had suddenly been dumped in front of him, though he wasn’t about to protest at someone buying out half of the shop. Money had never been an issue for Barkridges, however now more than ever as Thomas and Adrianna were the only ones remaining and had inadvertently inherited the entire family fortune.  
Thomas, with his arms full of books, followed his daughter through the next few shops, grateful that they had purchased a fairly large cauldron in which he deposited the books for easier transportation. Having purchased school robes and a few new sets of dress robes, the pair made their way to their second to last intended stop, Magical Menagerie. Students were allowed to bring an owl, cat, or toad to Hogwarts with them and there was no way Adrianna would let that opportunity slip past her. Considering all of the options, she decided on a Barred Owl which she named ‘Danger’ much to her father’s dismay. The reason for this particular name was that it in theory allowed Adrianna to shout “Danger” anywhere and cause panic with the excuse that she was just calling for her owl.  
They finally reached their last shop and Adrianna couldn’t hide her excitement any longer, this was what she had been waiting for since she had learnt the real reason they were at Diagon Alley. She looked up in admiration at the shop front, mouthing the name “Ollivanders”, and it wasn’t long before she was inside and being greeted by Ollivander. He looked at Thomas and nodded.  
“I remember your wand Mr Barkridge.” He informed him. “Rowan, Unicorn Hair, 10 ½ inch.” Thomas nodded, impressed at the man’s memory. “Rowan wood has always been favoured, good for protection.” He muttered seemingly to himself. Thomas cleared his throat and gestured down to his daughter who was busy admiring the wands that littered the walls.  
“I believe it’s time for Adrianna to get a wand, she’d been long overdue one.” He smiled sadly as he truly came to terms with the fact that she wasn’t just a little girl anymore, she had to experience the world.  
“Ah yes!” He began pulling out wands and passing them to Adrianna. “Reed, Unicorn hair, 11 ¾, give it a swish.” She shook the wand a little but it did nothing more than let out a couple of red sparks, Ollivander shook his head and snatched it back, replacing it with a new one. “Laurel, Dragon String, 9 ½, try that.” This wand produced an even more lackluster effect and was therefore snatched back and replaced. This went on for about 6 minutes, Thomas was concerned that Ollivander would be fed up by now but the man only seemed to be happier as the challenge proved to be more and more difficult.  
Eventually with the swish of one wand there was an almost blindingly bright light and Ollivander cheered. “12 ¾ inches, Pine wood, always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells.” He began processing the order through. “Phoenix Feather, the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world.” Adrianna grinned, clutching her new wand as Thomas paid for it. They thanked Ollivander and left the shop, making their way back to the Leaky Cauldron so that they can take the Floo Network back home.

As they walked, Thomas looked down at his daughter who was now cooing at Danger who pecked at its cage as though it already knew that it was in for one hell of a ride with Adrianna and wanted to escape while it could. He couldn’t help but worry for his daughter and how she would react to being at Hogwarts with the hundreds of other students. It was needless to say that he regretted keeping her locked away for so long, but at the same time he wished he could keep her hidden away from the dangers of the world forever.


	2. Chapter 2

“No.” Thomas and his daughter were once again sat in his office arguing. “It’s too dangerous.”  
“But you said I could go! I’ve packed and everything!” Adrianna was furious. Due to the Dark Mark making an appearance in the sky at the Quidditch World Cup her father was now refusing to send her off to Hogwarts that year.  
“I forbid you from going.” He sighed, stern faced with no sign of a change of heart. “I never promised that I would let you go.” His daughter’s face screwed up in rage.  
“I’m going. That’s final.” He knew that tone of voice, he knew that face. Adrianna’s mother, Cathryn, would do the same. She had one of the kindest hearts but if you crossed her in the wrong way you would pay for it and she would make sure of that. The phrase ‘like mother like daughter’ sprung to mind. “Whether you take me or not is negligible. I am going.”

 

A few days later Adrianna was waving goodbye to Thomas as she slipped through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, a ridiculous amount of luggage accompanying her. Her trunk appeared to be almost twice the size as that of a younger, ginger haired girl and she briefly worried if she had overpacked, but realised it wasn’t the end of the world and it was better to be over prepared than under prepared. Unbeknownst to her, Draco made an attempt to call her over to where he, Crabbe, and Goyle stood. He had taken advice from his father to get on Adrianna’s good side, the Barkridges were powerful and you’d be a fool to not attempt to make friends. Adrianna, not hearing him, continued to coo at Danger as he glared at her, clearly not happy about the noise the other owls on the platform seemed to be making. Two red-headed twins seemed to have taken notice of her and went in for the kill, linking their arms around hers on both sides.  
“We couldn’t help but notice that we haven’t seen you around before.” One twin grinned from her right hand side.  
“A pretty face like yours would be impossible to forget.” The other twin continued from her left side. Adrianna felt surprisingly at ease with the twins, it was quite clear that they were only there to tease her rather than harm her.  
“And you look too old to be a first year..” Twin number one looked up at twin number two with a glimmer in his eye as they seemingly communicated without words.  
“So who are you?” They asked in synchronisation. Before she had the chance to respond a woman who must have been their mother called over to the boys.  
“Fred! George! Don’t pester the poor girl!” She scolded before turning back to the various other teens and young adults around her, most of which were clearly related.  
“Barkridge.” She responded to Fred and George, although which one was which was a mystery to her. “Adrianna Barkridge.” They stiffened and their eyes widened in recognition of the name. They didn’t have time to react or say anything more as their mother called them over, presumably to say her goodbyes. Adrianna stood and watched as they all boarded the train, unsure on what to do next herself. She had already said goodbye to her father and she didn’t yet know any levitating charms to help carry her luggage onboard. Well she knew them but with the absence of a wand most of her life she had never practiced them, and she’d rather not accidentally blow up all of her clothing and books in front of her potential classmates.  
“Are you okay dear?” Adrianna tried not to seem too shocked as she was drawn from her own mind by the mother of the twins. “You seem a little lost.” The woman had a sweet smile and she couldn’t help but smile back.  
“Ah yes…” Having not spoken to anyone with such motherly tendencies, Adrianna was overcome with a feeling of bashfulness as she didn’t quite know how to act. “My father doesn’t like large crowds so he left before I could ask him for assistance with my luggage and whatnot so I’m at a bit of a loss..” She found herself trailing off as the woman was joined by two men she assumed were her older sons. She wasn’t used to talking as much as she was, let alone to multiple people at once.  
“Oh you poor thing! Charlie, would you be a dear and help-..” She trailed off, realising she hadn’t yet asked for the young girl’s name.  
“Adrianna.” She provided with a small, hesitant smile, purposely avoided using her last name this time.  
“Help Adrianna get her luggage onto the Hogwarts Express? I’m sure Ron, Harry, and Hermione won’t mind if she joins them.” With a grin, the man Adrianna assumed was Charlie lifted her luggage and hauled it over to the train. The woman turned back to her with a gentle smile. “My name is Molly Weasley by the way dear.”  
“It’s lovely to meet you. Thank you for your help.” Adrianna wasn’t too sure who she was supposed to be thanking but Molly smiled sweetly at the gesture. “I’m quite new to this.”  
“You look too old to be a first year.” The remaining son pointed out with slight confusion as Charlie emerged from the train.  
“My father has only just allowed me to attend, I’ll be joining the current fourth years.” She explained, trying not to come across as being too alienated. The last thing she needed was for more unwanted attention to drawn to her, she would have more than enough of it due to her last name.  
“Your trunks and your owl are in the compartment just to the left of the door.” Charlie informed her with another grin to which she politely nodded.  
“You’d better get on the train yourself, wouldn’t want to miss your first day! Just tell Ron, Harry, and Hermione that I sent you to sit with them.” Molly gently nudged Adrianna, a gesture she wasn’t used to but she tried not to look too affected by it.

It wasn’t difficult to find the compartment and the trio looked up at Adrianna curiously as she pried open the door, waiting for her to introduce herself to them. Without speaking to them, she sat herself down between the window and the bushy haired girl she assumed was Hermione. They all stared at her in confusion, not knowing what to do as a book floated down from her luggage and into her lap. The book in question was the worn copy of Hogwarts, A History, she figured that as she was finally attending the school it wouldn’t hurt to re-read the story of it’s history, even if she could practically quote it cover to cover.  
“You just did wandless and speechless magic!” Hermione gasped, looking at Adrianna in slight awe. “We don’t learn any of that until at least sixth year!” The trio seemed to be looking at her in hopes of an explanation.  
“I didn’t have a wand until about a month ago, and my father never liked me practicing magic in the house so I learnt quite quickly that I had to keep quiet about it.” She didn’t look up from her book as she spoke, more out of habit when Thomas would come to speak to her in the library than out of disrespect.  
“Are you muggleborn?” The redheaded boy she could only assume was Molly’s son questioned to which Adrianna shook her head and let out a soft snort. There wasn’t a drop of muggle blood in her system, her ancestors had made sure of that when traversing the world in order to find more pureblood families to marry into, carefully trying to avoid incest unless completely necessary.  
“Well then why have you only just gotten a wand?” The remaining boy asked, Adrianna looked up briefly and took note of the scar peeking through his messy hair. Harry Potter. Interesting. “And we’ve never seen you at Hogwarts before but you look like you’re our age?”  
“Wait!” Hermione suddenly called out causing everyone to jump slightly. “Charlie mentioned that you were called Adrianna when he dropped your luggage off... You wouldn’t happen to be Adrianna Barkridge would you?”  
“I see you’ve read the Pure-Blood Directory.” Adrianna responded, flipping the page of her book. “It’s quite biased honestly, for example the Potters were excluded due to Henry Potter’s outspoken pro-muggle ideas, yet the Ollivanders were left in despite having a muggleborn married into the family at the time of publishing.”  
“How do you know all of this?” Hermione asked, seemingly slightly starstruck although Adrianna wasn’t too sure if it was over her heritage or her knowledge, the latter appeared to be more likely. Adrianna shrugged and drew her book closer as if to say ‘leave me alone now’. Thankfully, the trio got the hint and refrained from questioning her any further, though that didn’t stop one of the owls in the compartment from hooting quite loudly and erratically at Danger who had been so silent she had practically forgotten him. Ron opened up his trunk and threw some maroon dress robes over the cage to keep the other owl quiet before striking up a conversation with his friends. He was quickly shushed by Hermione who seemed to have picked up on a voice somewhere outside the compartment.  
“Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man’s such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn’t admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn’t like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do.” The stuck up tone was easily recognisable as that of Draco Malfoy, Adrianna continued to keep quiet as Hermione closed the compartment door to block out the noise.  
“So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?” She scoffed, clearly quite angry. “I wish he had gone, then we wouldn’t have to put up with him.” It seems Draco wasn’t quite as popular as he had made out to be in Diagon Alley.  
“Durmstrang’s another wizarding school?” Asked Harry. Adrianna had read up on Durmstrang although there wasn’t quite as much history there as Hogwarts, at least not enough to fill up an entire book.  
“Yes and it’s got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts.” Hermione responded, this was mostly true. It had a ‘horrible’ reputation amongst students and teachers at other wizarding schools as each believed that they were the superior wizarding school and all others are completely atrocious. If you were to ask students of Durmstrang what they thought of Hogwarts they would probably have a similar reaction.  
“I think I’ve heard of it. Where is it? What country?” Ron inquired.  
“Well, nobody knows, do they?” Snorted Hermione like it was completely obvious, which honestly if you had done even the slightest bit of research, it was.  
“Er why not?” Asked Harry. Clearly he had not done any research.  
“There’s traditionally been a lot of rivalry between all the magic schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so nobody can steal their secrets,” Hermione answered once again. Adrianna knew a little more about Beauxbatons than she did Durmstrang but that was largely due to the fact that she had found the diary of a great great aunt who had attended the school a couple of hundred years ago. Though, she didn’t doubt that there had been other Barkridges who had attended Durmstrang but she was yet to obtain a long forgotten diary to solidify it.  
“Come off it,” Ron laughed with a sense of disbelief. “Durmstrang’s got to be about the same size as Hogwarts! How are you going to hide a great big castle?”   
“But Hogwarts is hidden,” Hermione pointed out. “Everyone knows that! Well, everyone who’s read Hogwarts, A History, anyway.”   
“Just you, then,” Laughed Ron and Adrianna could no longer bite her tongue.  
“I’ve read Hogwarts, A History, in fact I’m reading it again now.” She chimed in, holding up the book for them to see, and once she started talking she couldn’t stop herself. “Also, Durmstrang is a Scandinavian wizarding school. They’re willing to accept international students however they don’t accept muggle-borns. Durmstrang was founded sometime during the Middle Ages by the great medieval Bulgarian witch Nerida Vulchanova who served as the first head of the school, followed after her mysterious demise by Professor Harfang Munter who established Durmstrang's reputation for emphasising martial magic as an impressive part of its curriculum.” The trio looked shocked as though they had completely forgotten Adrianna’s presence in the compartment. “The castles are most likely hidden by advanced concealment charms, much like Ekrizdis placed on Azkaban in the 15th Century so he could torture muggles in privacy.” 

After this little knowledge outburst Adrianna returned to reading her book, ignoring the following conversations between the trio and their various friends who would pop in to the compartment and give her weary looks. It wasn’t until a familiar voice crept up that she looked up from the book.  
“We saw him right up close, as well,” Exclaimed Ron in excitement as he showed another boy who had joined the compartment a little figurine. “We were in the Top Box-”   
“For the first and last time in your life, Weasley.” Draco cut in, followed by two large boys Adrianna could only assume were his ‘backup’. She looked back at his book, trying to ignore him as her father had told her to but she could feel his piercing gaze on her.  
“Don’t remember asking you to join us, Malfoy,” Retorted Harry, but he was completely ignored as Draco grabbed the dress robes off of the owl’s cage.   
“Weasley . . . what is that?” He laughed, holding up the robes and showing them to his goonies. “Look at this! Weasley, you weren’t thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety-” He couldn’t finish what he was about to say as he was cut off by Adrianna who had been taught absolutely no restraint when it came to insulting people as she was never around anyone to insult.  
“At least it was fashionable, it’s not like you can say the same about whatever.. that is.” She gestured to Draco’s outfit. “But honestly, it’s very sweet that you care about how Weasley dresses.” He seemed almost furious about this.   
“Care? I-” He was once again cut off before he could say what he intended to.  
“I mean why else would you bring it up in the first place? Why would you take your time to seek out this compartment and join in with the conversation?” She smirked ever so slightly, knowing full well that he couldn’t muster up any comeback that wouldn’t just dig him deeper into the little hole he’s buried in.  
“You’d better watch who you socialise with Barkridge.” He spat. “You wouldn’t want people to think that you make a hobby of hanging out with blood traitors and mudbloods.” Adrianna’s smirk only grew.  
“Who are you to know what sort of a reputation I want or not?” She retorted, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “In fact.. Who are you? Have we met before? If so you clearly did not make an impression.” With that she returned to her book, blocking out the outraged responses coming from Malfoy. Of course she recognised him, but she thought back to his ‘I assume you’ve heard of me’ introduction and couldn’t help but tease him and wound his sense of pride, much like he had just attempted to do with Weasley.   
Adrianna once again went back to ignoring the conversation until she heard a loud crash and looked up to find the glass from the compartment door had shattered. Hermione fixed it within seconds which impressed Adrianna.  
“You’ll have to teach me that.” She chimed in. “I have a terrible habit of breaking most things I come in contact with.”  
“You don’t know Reparo?” Hermione gasped. “It’s a first year spell!”  
“Despite being a fourth year this is my first year.” Adrianna pointed out. “And like a said before, I didn’t have a wand until about a month ago.”  
“I don’t mean to be rude, but how are you going to catch up to the other fourth year students if you can’t do basic first year spells?” The other girl asked, it was a fair question really and Adrianna wasn’t too sure on the answer herself but she was sure she would find a way, she always found a way to get what she wanted.  
“Oh come on Hermione! Half of the year can’t do some of the first year spells!” Ron exclaimed, she somehow doubted that this was true.  
“Just because you can’t do some of them doesn’t mean you have to drag everyone else down with you.” Harry elbowed Ron who was now pouting. He was still in a bad mood after being made fun of and this didn’t exactly help.

Adrianna watched the rain hit the windows as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the final stop at Hogsmeade station. Thankfully, Hermione informed her that she could leave her luggage on the train and it would be taken up to their dorms separately, but that she should bring her owl with her. As she slid her copy of Hogwarts, A History back into her trunk, she pulled out the black umbrella which had been packed into her bag last minute by Topsy the house elf who she was now suddenly very thankful for. She followed the trio off of the train, opening her umbrella to protect not only herself but also Danger who ruffled his feathers when they took a step out into the cold. Upon the advice of Hermione, perhaps the only person thus far she’s trusted the logic and intelligence of, Adrianna joined the flood of first years following a very large man to the lake. Despite the complaining of the younger students around her about how cold and wet it was, she was excited as she had never been on a boat. Admittedly she had always pictured her first boat ride being on a lovely sunny day while swans happily swum around her, but this would do. As she settled down into one of the boats she smirked at the glares she, well more her umbrella than her, was receiving from the first years. It wasn’t her fault they were unprepared.

The boat ride was uneventful save one kid falling into the lake, although from the nasty laughing she wasn’t too sure if he fell or was pushed. Hogwarts was bigger than anticipated and Adrianna resigned herself to the back of the crowd while filing into the entrance hall. Ahead of her, she could see what appeared to be a poltergeist firing red water balloons at unsuspecting students. Thanks to her umbrella, Adrianna had managed to stay practically bone dry throughout the trip, and she wasn’t about to let herself get soaked now. As one of the balloons made its way towards her head she lifted her arm up, the balloon stopping in mid-air mere inches away from her hand. Her eyes locked with the poltergeist who seemed to have been frozen himself, although it was probably more out of shock than due to whatever Adrianna had done to freeze the water balloon mid-air.  
“Don’t even try with me.” She hissed out at the poltergeist who became slightly more transparent and flew off up the stairs without so much as muttering a word of apology. She took a step forward and let go of her hold on the water balloon, allowing it to hit the first year girl behind her who shrieked loud enough to be mistaken as a banshee.   
Adrianna managed to slide right to the very back of the line as a woman who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House lead them to the Great Hall. The Professor placed a rather old looking hat onto a stool in front of everyone and thanks to her extensive reading Adrianna identified it as the Sorting Hat. She bit back a snort of giggles as a couple of the first years jumped when the hat began singing, some of them showing that they were clearly muggleborn as they gasped and pointed, clinging onto the arms of their friends excitedly at the fact an item of clothing was singing.  
“When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool.” Professor McGonagall announced once the hat had finished it’s song. “When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table.” She proceeded to call out names in alphabetical order, when her name wasn’t called out along with the other B’s Adrianna assumed that she would be last as she would not be joining the first years so took the time to examine her surroundings. She watched as the twins she had met on the platform, Fred and George she believed their names were, hissed at first years being sorted into Slytherin. Evidently there was some sort of house rivalry going on between Gryffindor and Slytherin as whenever a student was sorted into Gryffindor the Slytherins let out huffs and puffs.  
Students became antsy as McGonagall slowly got to the end of the alphabet and the line of first years with varying degrees of fright and curiosity dwindled down.  
“Finally, joining the students in the fourth year, Barkridge, Adrianna.” She barely had time to comprehend that her name had been called out before people in the Great Hall started mumbling. She couldn’t quite tell if it was because she’d be joining the fourth years or if people just recognised the name, either way she made her way up and sat down on the stool as the Sorting Hat was placed on her head.  
“A Barkridge? Interesting.. Interesting.. We haven’t had one of you for a very long time.” She tried to hide her shock as the hat spoke to her thoughts.  
“That’s because they’re all dead.” She responded almost bitterly.  
“Where to place you.. You’re very witty, perhaps a Ravenclaw? No, no.. While you seek out information it’s for your own benefit, not because you have the desire to learn.” Adrianna wasn’t sure if she should be offended by the observation, but no matter how she perceived it she couldn’t deny that it was right. “Gryffindor maybe? You’re not afraid of anything are you? But not being afraid does not mean the same as being brave.. I know exactly where you belong.”  
With one final word from the Sorting Hat, Adrianna’s fate was sealed.

“SLYTHERIN!”

**Author's Note:**

> Notes made while writing Chapter 1:  
> -God bless whoever put the Harry Potter books in PDF form online so I didn’t have to go all the way downstairs yikes  
> -Thank god spellcheck knows how to spell Quidditch because lord knows ya girl struggles on the spelling side of things  
> -Can’t count how many times I said Botts instead of Blotts thank god I went back and changed it


End file.
